Leaving Marianna we set off at 7am for DeFuniak Springs, continuing our journey along Florida’s panhandle country.

We start at sunrise to get the benefit of it being only 86F although, with the humidity, the ‘feels like’ temperature is about 107F. Still it feels bliss compared to later in the day.

60 miles and 1500 feet of ascent later we arrived at our motel knackered and deflated – another front wheel spoke had gone! We had been standing off bike taking on some refreshment when it went. Big lardy me wasn’t even sitting on the bike! I think its just a case of all the spokes having reached the end of their life with the hardship of our three tours. Unfortunately, we don’t want to stop for another 2-3 days to get the wheel properly rebuilt.

All was not lost, however, as we had purchased two spare spokes for the front wheel in Tallahassee when it was rebalanced. Susan ordered in some beers and pizza to the motel room and I set to replacing the spoke. You won’t believe it when I say I threaded in the new spoke and it was the wrong bloody size! The Great Bicycle Shop in Tallahassee are you listening – you’re not so great, you’re not so good, you’re not even blinking acceptable! Not even beer and pizza could cheer me up – thats how bad it was.

DeFuniak doesn’t have a bicycle shop and our only option was to head to the next town of Milton and hope the front wheel held up. Only 61 miles.

Susan, the cunning person that she is, started hiding my pizza and drinking more than her fair share of the beer trying to keep my weight down for the following day. She feared for the front wheel when I sat on the bike. I had the Panhandle Blues.

We started cycling before the sun was up and, thankfully, the first 30 miles were relatively flat and we made good time. After 40 miles with no further spokes down we were in good spirits. Happy smiley people.

21 miles later we reached Milton and went to our third bike shop in America where they replaced the spoke but with one of inferior quality – it’s all they had. We are now in Pensacola where we visited our fourth bike shop and now have 6 quality front wheel spoke replacements. Just in case. If the situation doesn’t improve before Austin, Texas, we will have the front wheel rebuilt from scratch.

Let’s leave the spoke crisis for the time being. Here’s Susan at one of our multiple stops at a local garage for fluid. These garages are our lifeline as we’re drinking 2 litres an hour and that’s actually not nearly enough.

Susan’s still not taking the heat too well and the last couple of cycles have been particularly tough. I’ve got to try and judge when to stop as she will just keep on going. When we stop I can tell she’s suffering whenever she sits on the ground. I take pictures of her suffering, of course, as a historical record of the cycle but I’m not allowed to post them. It’s not pretty but then neither am I standing there soaked through looking like I’ve wet myself. Not a pretty couple.

We are now in Pensacola, Florida, and tomorrow we will cross into Alabama. The roads in Florida have been relatively fine though the traffic can at times be busy. We expected that – it’s not big open Canada or the deserts of Australia.

Visibility is important on American roads. As well as our usual rear flag we have three rear lights and two front lights. One of the rear lights has radar and is linked to the GPS that sits in front of me. I get a radar notification that a truck (they all have big trucks here) is approaching and the rear light flashes faster. Great piece of kit. If our rear light was human it would have had a nervous breakdown with the standard of driving here.

Nearly all States have a mandatory 3 foot clearance for cyclists – its the law. Unfortunately, I think a significant minority have mixed up their feet with inches. Also in their defence it must be hard to judge feet and inches when you are on your phone. It’s unbelievable!

Pensacola is a nice seaside town on the Gulf of Mexico. Known as the ‘ City of Five Flags” due to the 5 governments that have ruled it – Spain, France, Great Britain, USA and the Confederate States of America. Susan and I are staying for two nights at a lovely AirBnB. We have the whole house to ourselves.

That’s my beer balcony where I try to consume as much beer as I’m sweating out. You wont believe me when I say my beer drinking can’t keep up.

To finish, here are some local boys having a local ‘hoedown’ in Pensacola singing one of Susan’s favourite songs.

And finally finally, after 485 miles, here’s our ‘where’s the wallies’ now place map:

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